You know what grinds my gears the most?
Individuals who are "white-washed" and don't fully appreciate their origins; their heritage -- where they came from.
Sure, you may be raised here all your life, but your family went through numerous sacrifices to get where they are today. And if not your immediate parents, your grandparents. And for you to diss your own culture; I just want to scream at you for being so immature. Do you realize what kind of blasphemy you are spewing out of your mouth?

You defend yourself by saying, "oh, I hate math, but I love English; I'm a damn good driver; I hate visiting my home country, our food, and I don't want to learn about my culture and have no interest, blah blah blah -- I'm not your "typical" Asian, and don't plan to be." Excuse me, one: can you please stop perpetuating Asian stereotypes? It's highly counterproductive, and it makes you sound quite illogical because your statements are very contradictory. Second, I can sense your cockiness from 400 miles away. Girl, you are not going to get anywhere in life with your ungrateful attitude; you may got the looks, money, and fashion, but that's all you're gonna have. Oh, so you can recite Shakespeare and understand the Iliad at CC level (not to undermine community colleges, I apologize); so what? You think no one else in the world can understand them either, if not better? And you make snark sarcastic remarks no one likes, except from your equivalently snooty little friends. Your superficial self with a superficial outlook is highly disregarded; I don't like people like you who mainly focus on appearances. Sorry to say, but if you ever read this, I want you to know this; you're rude with your "truths" to others that degrade others' feelings, I'll be abrupt and straight to the point with you as well.

Also, your claim about that medical doctor Asian stereotype and you planning to not be one, is totally false. Check out the statistics yourself; the majority of the doctors in the US are white, not Asian. Asians are only a fraction of how many white medical doctors there are. And you know why? Well, I'll leave you to take a real sociology course to further understand the utter discrimination in jobs in the US. You don't understand our struggles and refuse to even look at them; you hide away in your white cultured self and have a false level of pompousness. Open your damn eyes, and look into the world, and especially into your hystory.

I thrive through art, and have a drive for fashion+photography, I'm not as intelligent as the other Berkeley students here, despite my "Asian background"--but I'M STILL VIETNAMESE AND PROUD OF IT. Screw the damn stereotypes; nothing makes sense, but what does make sense is that I am my own individual with lots to be grateful for. I want to go to Vietnam and live there for a long period of time, I want to learn my mother tongue; I want to see the poverty and ill-stricken areas in Vietnam, I want to see the reality. I DON'T want to see the modernized Vietnam *coughSaigon* catered for tourists. I want to play on the sand dunes, and experience the culture I've never faced, because I am extremely privileged to be here in the United States, getting the education my parents slaved away for day and night, with the many basic necessities (food, hot water, sanitary conditions, etc.) I otherwise would not have. So thank you, Ba and Ma, for everything. I have never doubted your potentials based on your jobs, but appreciated how much you sacrificed yourselves to learn English, get to technical schools, and get a job that pays for my education, food, and shelter. One day, I will tell you in Vietnamese how much I appreciate you both, because you both deserve so much better. Once I get a fulfilling job, I will provide a big, comfortable house for you to live in, in a safe community where you can actually use your language to converse, instead of having people screw you both over with English words you both can't understand. I want what's best for you, because the last years of your life will pay off and be worth it.

So, my last tips for you: get a damn REAL education and take an Asian American Studies course to fulfill one of your UC breadths (assuming you transfer out of community college)--you won't regret it. And lastly, check your privileges.